UH Engineer Named President of Houston Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance

William Epling, a chemical
and biomolecular engineer at the University of Houston, has been named
president of the Greater Houston Natural Gas Vehicle Alliance.

The group was formed in 2009, a
partnership of four energy companies and the University of Houston’s Hobby
Center for Public Policy. Hobby Center Director Jim Granato served as the
founding president.

Epling said the alliance’s goal is to
promote awareness of natural gas as a transportation fuel. The idea has gained
popularity as the U.S. shale boom proves its abundance in North America.

“I think we’re becoming more and more
confident that natural gas is here to stay,” he said. “We’ve had
well-established low natural gas costs. This isn’t a pulse. It isn’t a wave.
Natural gas can compete.”

The alliance began with Anadarko Petroleum
Corporation, Apache Corporation, Southwestern Energy and CenterPoint Energy,
working with the Hobby Center for Public Policy. Epling said it has grown to
include more than 350 members.

Natural gas isn’t regulated as a
transportation fuel by the Environmental Protection Agency. And because it
doesn’t emit carbon dioxide, it is generally favored as a way to lower
greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for causing global warming.

But methane, the main component of natural
gas, is a potent greenhouse gas, and Epling said that as the number of natural-gas powered cars
and trucks grows, it will become more likely that natural gas will be regulated
as a transportation fuel.

There are now approximately 112,000
natural gas-powered vehicles in the United States, according to the U.S.
Department of Energy. Most of the growth has been in heavy-duty trucks and
fleet vehicles.

Granato said the Hobby Center will remain
involved with the alliance. Initially, the key issue for the alliance was where
to locate refueling stations, he said.

But Granato said alliance members now are
concerned with more technical questions.

Epling, associate chair and undergraduate
program director in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at
the Cullen College of Engineering, focuses on understanding and engineering the
reaction process on and along a catalyst surface. His current research projects
include looking at ways to reduce emissions from diesel engines, as well as
ways to reduce methane emissions from natural gas engines.

The
alliance can provide expert advice for people facing decisions about switching
to natural gas vehicles, Epling said.

Most alliance members come from commercial
companies, but Epling said the University is
neutral partner, there to provide answers.

“The goal is not to promote natural gas,”
he said. “The goal is to increase awareness of natural gas.”